$1.7 million grant may open doors to spinal cord injury cure

$1.7 million grant may open doors to spinal cord injury cure

Posted By
Eliot Reiner

If you or someone you know has suffered a spinal cord injury, then you
also know that there is currently no cure for this injury. In more severe
or complete spinal cord injuries, this means a lifetime spent in a wheelchair.
For incomplete or less severe injuries, this means copious amounts of
physical therapy that may or may not lead to partial recovery.

As we explained in a post last month, science is advancing and is now offering
promising technology that can help spinal cord victims walk again. Even
though this isn't a cure, scientists are hopeful that they could one
day unlock the secrets to cellular regrowth and develop treatments that
could lead to a cure. Now, with the help of a $1.7 million grant from
the National Institutes of Health, scientists may have a chance to get
the ball rolling.

According to a recent
article on News-Medical.net, the grant will be used by researchers at the School of Engineering and
Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, to "take
a closer look at how nerve cells grow and make new connections to reroute
signals between the brain and the body." Their focus will be on what
"particular cells, or interneurons, are forming these new connections"
and how this can be applied to people with spinal cord injuries.

Because this research could take years before a new treatment is found,
a spinal cord injury suffered now is one that is suffered for life. If
this injury was received during a serious motor vehicle accident or was
the result of another accident, you may want to know how much current
treatments are because this will greatly affect the size of compensation
you ask for in a personal injury lawsuit. Once this research opens the
door to newer and more effective treatments, spinal cord injury victims
will also need to know the expense, so that their request for compensation
is as accurate as possible.